Military Stories, And Night Markets...

Dear Everyone,

  It's been another fantastic week down in Ping Dong!! (Sorry, I really need to think of better ways to start these emails...) Things are starting to pick up! We've been finding a lot of new people to meet with and it's making things a lot more fun! Most of the people we've found are older than 70 so that's pretty fun. I've always known this, but recently I have been reminded many times that old Taiwanese guys love to talk with young foreigners!! They just talk about anything, mostly the history of Taiwan and the invasions from China and Japan. 

  We met a man that was a captain of a trade boat who had been to 80 or more countries throughout his life. We talked to him on the street a few days before and I just gave him a flyer about our English Class (his English was pretty good), and then he just randomly showed up at the church as we were starting a lesson with our friend X... He had brought his maps that he used as a captain and just went on and on about his stories, which is cool and all, but we were trying to teach a lesson! So we told him we could meet another day. My companion kept teaching the lesson while I spent the next 15 minutes (no I'm not exaggerating) talking with him.  Eventually we scheduled him to come to our English class.

  That lesson with X... was still really good though. He's a awesome guy in the Air Force and he is really sincere. He always has really good questions and really wants to learn. There are lots of bad influences on the Air Force Base with all of his associates, so he says it's hard to live a life following Christ's teachings. He still is working to overcome his concerns and has a desire to be baptized.

  We also met a really nice guy named K... from English Class. He's 19 and is studying Physical Fitness or something like that. He loves to work out and wants to go with us, but unfortunately he always goes at night and we can only go in the morning... But he's really interested in learning more about Christianity. One of his grandparents is Christian, and one in Buddhist, but he feels like the things that his grandma shares with him about Jesus Christ are really special and he likes it a lot. 

  We also met with X... again. (the older man who served in the Navy) We talked to him about the importance of using the Book of Mormon to confirm, for himself through prayer, the truthfulness of our message regarding the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. He is very interested and was asking lots of questions. He loves to talk about his military days though so it's sometimes difficult to focus though haha. 

  On Saturday night we went with some of the ward members to the night market to pass out lots of flyers for our English Class and the upcoming Family History activity. It was a lot of fun going with them. I was with a lot of the guys my age, two of which are preparing to go on missions. It was fun to see them talking with people and seeing how nervous they were. It reminded me of how nervous I was when I first came and how much I have grown since then. 

  I'm having a great time in Ping Dong with Elder Lin. We usually just talk in Chinese so my language has been improving a lot. We have 4 missionaries in our ward, me, Elder Lin and two sister missionaries who are both Taiwanese. Now I really feel like a foreigner!!! It's fun though haha. 

  Well I hope you all have a great week! Love you lots!!

Love,

Elder Stevens

Night Market